Sequoyah was born about 1770
in the Cherokee village of Tuskegee on the Tennessee River, Tennessee. His mother was
Wut-teh, the daughter of a Cherokee chief of the Paint Clan. His father, a white
fur trader, was thought to be a
Nathaniel Gist. He abandoned the mother before the son was born.
Sequoyah was sometimes known to the white man as George Gist, Guess or
Guest.

Sequoyah married a Cherokee
and had a family. He was a hunter and fur trader until a hunting accident left him
crippled. He was also a skilled silver craftsman. He never learned to
speak, write or read English, but was always fascinated with the white
people’s ability to communicate with one another by making distinctive
marks on paper - what some native people referred to as "talking leaves".

He and other Cherokee
enlisted in the United States militia and fought under General Andrew
Jackson against the British and Creek Indians in the War of 1812.

Around 1809 he realized his
people were at a tremendous disadvantage by not having the means to
communicate their ideas through a written language. He began work on
devising an Indian alphabet when he returned home from war. He completed
the alphabet in 1821. He taught this written language to his daughter,
Ayoka. The two of them introduced the written Cherokee language to the
Cherokee people.

In recognition of his
contributions, the Cherokee Nation awarded Sequoyah a silver medal created
in his honor and a lifetime literary pension.

In 1822 he went
west. He died in August 1843 somewhere in the southwest, possibly Mexico.

"It is said
that in ancient times, when writing first began, a man named Moses made
marks on a stone. I can agree with you by what name to call those marks
and that will be writing and can be understood," attributed to
Sequoyah.